Use case
Encrypted chat with nothing to install
Most encrypted messengers start at an app store and a phone number. FadeChats starts at a browser tab: a private room for two, encrypted by the connection itself, with no copy left behind on any server.
Start an encrypted chat
Start an encrypted chatTwo words that rarely show up together
Search for an encrypted chat and every result wants you in an app store. Search for a chat with no download and you land on web widgets that keep every message in a database. The two halves get separated for a boring reason: apps make their money from the account, and free web tools make theirs from the archive.
You usually need both halves in the same moment. A contractor needs the Wi-Fi password. A friend needs the code from your authenticator app before it rolls over. A colleague on a locked-down work laptop needs an address you would rather not put in email. Asking any of them to install a messenger and confirm a phone number costs more than the thing you are sending is worth. FadeChats is that missing pairing.
What "encrypted" is worth here, exactly
- Nobody on our side holds a key
The two browsers generate their own keys when the room connects, hold them in memory, and drop them when either tab closes. We never get a copy and have no way to make one, so there is nothing on this end to hand over or lose. Plenty of products described as encrypted still keep the key themselves — that is the question worth asking of any of them, including this one.
- It is the connection, not a setting
Messages ride a WebRTC DataChannel, which the standard encrypts on its own. No toggle to forget, no plain-text mode to fall back to, no separate secret room you were supposed to open instead. It starts encrypted or it does not start.
- The server introduces you, then steps aside
A signaling server helps the two browsers find each other. When a direct route between them is impossible, a TURN relay forwards packets it cannot read. Neither one keeps message content, and there is no history and no log of what was said.
- Where an installed app is genuinely stronger
An app you install is a build you can verify once; a web app ships its code to you on every visit, and FadeChats has no safety-number screen to confirm you reached the right person. If you are a source facing a serious adversary, that difference matters and Signal is the correct tool. No chat, ours included, can stop a screenshot.
Two browsers, about fifteen seconds
- Your half is already done
There is no setup step. The tab you opened is the room, and it is holding a seat for exactly one other person.
- Hand over the invite
Send the link however you normally reach that person, and say what it is: an unexplained link looks like phishing and goes unclicked. It burns on first use and goes stale in about 10 minutes, and a fresh one is a click away.
- The handshake happens when they arrive
Their browser and yours agree on keys the moment the second one joins. From there, text, images, GIFs and stickers move between the two of you with no stop in the middle.
- Silence closes the room
It stays up while you are talking and expires after roughly 10 minutes of quiet. Close the tab and it ends sooner. Either way there is nothing left over to delete.
Encrypted and nothing to install: who does both
| FadeChats | WhatsApp Web | Telegram Web | Signal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing to install | Yes — any modern browser | Only after the phone app links it | Yes | No — app required |
| Account or phone number | Neither | Phone number | Phone number | Phone number |
| Encrypted end to end | Yes, always | Yes | No — the web client runs cloud chats | Yes |
| Message content on a server | Never | Queued encrypted until delivered | Stored in the cloud | Queued until delivered |
| Ends on its own | Yes — the room expires when it goes quiet | Only if you set a timer | Only in secret chats, which the web client lacks | Only if you set a timer |
Feature status as of September 2026. Check each product's site for changes.
When this is the right tool
For the ordinary things that are simply nobody else's business — the password, the address, the backup code, the sentence you would rather not leave sitting in a thread for three years — a tab that keeps nothing beats an install you will open exactly once.
Encryption protects the message, not the record
All of the above is about the words you are about to send. It does nothing about what is already published under your name: data brokers compile old accounts, subscriptions and public records into people-search listings that any stranger can read for free.
Disclosure: the link below is an affiliate link. If you subscribe through it, FadeChats earns a commission at no extra cost to you. FadeChats itself stays free, ad-free and account-free — this is what pays for the writing.
Optery scans hundreds of broker and people-search sites, files the removals and re-checks monthly, because brokers relist any record they can still sell. The free tier returns the report with screenshots before you pay anything. Two honest limits: having removals run for you is a subscription, and coverage is the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa only.
Check your exposure
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an account, an app or a phone number?
None of the three. There is no sign-up step to skip, because there is nothing to sign up for. FadeChats runs in any modern browser on a phone or a computer, and the only thing the other person needs is the invite link, which works once.
Will it work on a locked-down work or school computer?
Usually, since there is nothing to install. The catch is the network, not the machine: some corporate and campus networks block the peer-to-peer traffic WebRTC needs, and if they also block the relay that covers that case, the room will not connect at all. And a work computer is still your employer's computer.
Where do the messages go when we close the tab?
Nowhere, because they were never anywhere else. Text, images, GIFs and stickers pass straight between the two browsers and are never written to a database, a log or a backup. Images are compressed in your browser before they travel, so they are never uploaded either.
Can three of us use the same room?
No. A room holds exactly two browsers and the invite link dies once the second one is in. FadeChats is not a group chat, and if that is what you need, this is the wrong tool.